Telegraph-key



(No Model.)

J. R. FRANK.

TELEGRAPH KEY. v

No. 508,214. Patented Nov. 7, 1893.

the circuit by the opened switch.

UNITED STATES PATENT ()EEICE.

JOHN R. FRANK, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

TELEGRAPH-KEY.

PEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 508,214, dated November 7, 1893. Application filed May 29, 1893. Serial No. 475,817. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN R. FRANK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Switches for Telegraph-Keys; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention is in the nature of an improvement in telegraphkeys.

As is well-known, in the present telegraph systems, there are employed, in connection with the generators and the line wire, a transmitting key and a sounder for denoting the impulses given to the current in transmitting the message. Videdwith both a key and asounder; and all of the keys and all of the sounders of any given circuit are connected up in series. The key is provided with a lever and an anvil portion, insulated from each other and connected to the opposite terminals of the line. The key lever is normally spring-held away from the anvil and is depressed onto the same to close the circuit therethrough. IVhenever' the circuit is thus closed or-opened, all the Sounders along the line are operated. In order that the key may thus operate the distant sonnders, it is necessary for the circuit to be continuous at all points except the break between the lever and the anvil of the particular key which is in use. Hence, there has hitherto been employed, in connection with the old style key, a hand operated switch lever, which is set to close the circuit whenv the key is out of use, and which is adapted to be thrown out of the circuit when the key is to be used. In the use of these keys, it frequently occurs that some operator along the line forgets to close his switch, after finishing his message. In sucha case, the line will be left open, thus making it impossible to telegraph to or across the gap formed in This contingency has been the cause of much loss of time, money and life. It is the object of my invention to remove this defect in the construction and use of telegraph keys.

To these ends, my invention consists in the Each station is, of course, pronovel construction and arrangement of parts,

regular line X X of Fig. 1, with some parts broken away, showing a key equipped with the preferred form of my automatic switch attachment. Fig. 3 is a side elevation, illustrating a modified construction of the automatic switch device, and Fig. 4. is a transverse section taken on the line Y Y of said Fig. 3.

a 0. represent the station terminals of the main line wire. I) is the base, 0 is the lever, d theanvil, and ff are the binding or contact posts of an ordinary key, all of said parts being constructed of metal.

The lever c is fulcrumed 011 the metallic fulcrum block 0', rising from the base b. The key lever is yieldingly held onto its fulcrumblock 0 and normally out of contact with the anvil portiond, by a spring 0 subject to the action of a thumb-screw 0 working through a bracket 0 rigid with the fulcrum-block 0'. At its rear end, the lever c is provided with an adjustable thu mb-screw and nut c which serves to limit its stroke. At its forward end, the lever is provided with a button or fingen piece 0 p A The terminal wires a and a are connected respectively, to the contact postsfandf'. Of these parts, the post f is electrically connected to the bed b and from thence through the fulcrum block 0 to the key-lever 0, while the post f is insulated from the bed b, by a suitable insulating thimble f .The anvil-piece dis also insulated from the bed I) by another insulating thimble d, and is electrically connected to the depending end of the contact post f by means of a wire (1 located under the bed.

The parts so far described, are in their general features, like the ordinary standard construction.

In the preferred form of my invention, the forward end of the key-lever is provided with a switch lever g, which is pivotally carried from the under side of the same, as shown at at'any portion "of their margins.

g. The-free inner end of this switch lever g is normally held,by. gravity or'springtension, or, as shown, by the combined action of both, in contact with a contact plate 9 which is in: sulated from the bed-plateb and in electrical contact with the anvil piece (I. y

g is a cap-piece positioned immediately above the button or finger-piece 0 having a stem 9 passing downward and working, through an axial perforation in said button piece 0 and pivotally secured to the forward end of theswitch-lever :g as shown at-g.

g is a light coiled spring surrounding the stem 9 working in a countersunkportionof the button 0 and tending both to keep the cap piece g in its *uppermost pbsitidngaud' theswitchdever 'g in its lowermostpositim, in contact with the contact' plate-g The operation of this devieeis'simple. Normallythe circuitisclosed "from-the key tothe anvil, through the switch lever'g andthecontact plate-g In=usingthe key, the operator by'the initial operating movement, in gripping the button a ofthe key-'lever'c; depresses the 'cap ipieceg upon "the *said button, thus raising the 'switch lever g and brea'king the circuit at 9 By thus depressing "the cappiece 9 withrespect to the buttons, the free end of the switch-lever is" carried away f rom the contact plateg such a distance that, in the action of depressing the key leVer onto the anvil d, insendingmessages, the

saidswitch-lever g,wvill not be thrown into contact with said contact-plate g I-Ience, it willbe seen that this switch device can inno wise interfere with the transmitting action of the key. A very important feature in the construction of my preferred form should be here =noted, to-wit:-The cap piece g and the 'upper edge-of the button-"0 am of thesame diameter and are'so supported that their peripheries are left continuousand unobstructed, and hence, when the parts-are pressed together, by the operator gripping the key, the peripheral edges of theparts will become, coincident; and" may begrippedby the operator,

When the cap-piece g is depressed onto the buttons andthetwo are gripped together by-theoperator, they are operated as an entirety, after the manner of the ordinary key. Immediately upon the 'release of tliekeyifrom the gri'p of the operator, the switch-lever g will automatically close the circuit at 9 thus rendering -all the sounders located in the circuit operativefrom-anykey alonglthe line.

In the moditicationshown in Figs. 3 and 4, all parts are similar to those shown in Figs. "1 and 2,with the exception of the finger-piece for operating the switch-lever g. In this case, the button 0 of the key-lever c is slotted and provided with agpivoted Yfinger-piece, in

the form of a bell-crank, g the lower end of "which engagestheupper edge of the forward end of the switch-lever g. As shown, the switch-lever g is norrnall'y heldc'losedby a light flat' spring d securetl to the iinderedge of the keyfleverc aiid engaging said switchlever with itsfreeend. iliy pressing thefintger-pieceg into *the*bnttot1"portion '0 'in th'e gripping actionithe switch will bethrown'olit of actionin'a'mannersimiiar'tothat de'scribed iii connection with my preferredzform.

My device *may of course, be changed in many'of the'details'of -*the"construction and arrangement of =theiparts,=without 'departin g fromthespiritbf my invention.

The great utility of an fautoinatic circu'it closer, such' as I have here'indescribed, isobvious from the statements-already made.

What I claim, and desire-to secure by Eetters Patent of the United'states, is as follows:

end of thekeydevenand the'cap-piece'g having thestemg workingthrough said button and pivoted to the outer'endof 'said switchlever g, said buttonand'said' cap -piece*having continuous-coincidentand unobstructedperipheral margins, substantially-as andfor the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof Iaffix mysignature'in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN R. FRANK. Witnesses:

JAs. F. WILLIAMSON, EMMA F. ELMORE. 

